Joey McIntyre Exclusive Blog #3Joey McIntyre tells ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino about a very, very memorable Thanksgiving with his family and the New Kids in the third installment of this exclusive blog series….

Thanksgiving Memories—

It's always a funny thing when people ask me about old family Thanksgiving memories, like I'm just gonna spit out, "Oh boy, there was that time when the drum stick flew out of little Tommy's hand and hit Nana Alice in the noggin. Boy, did we laugh!" I don't have those kinds of memories.

Maybe it's because there was so may of us in the house (11 including parents—and they should be included) that there was always a steady din that filled the air. At any moment, the top could blow off and someone was slamming the door and stomping off down the street—probably a planned exit to meet friends and get out of the house, now, that I think of it. A nice quiet, boring Thanksgiving was always welcome in the Mac household.

Hmmm...maybe I do have memories, I just had to start writing. What I was gonna tell you about was a more obvious Turkey Day memory. It was 1989 and the New Kids were playing Madison Square Garden. I don't know if that's a prestigious night to play. Maybe it points to our ridiculous popularity at the time. Who the hell plays on Thanksgiving?! Us, I guess. I'd hate to be the dad that had to get up off the couch in a turkey coma and go to a concert full of screaming pre-teens. Oy! I love being home for the holidays, especially back then when we were on the road all the time. But to sooth the homesickness, we flew in all our families. Everyone! To New York City. It was a swanky day. A thrill for all of our loved ones to come down to the Big Apple. Plus, we were in The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade—a proud moment for any mother—and mine was front in center in the stands outside of Macy's famous department store. For me and the guys, it was a bit of a grind, as usual. Up at 6:30 in the morning to get on the float and move through the city- a privilege none the less. What a treat!

I remember getting back to my hotel room and collapsing on the bed and not getting up til dinner was ready. It was special to have the four New Kid families together in one room—just celebrating without the fan fare—normal stuff. After dinner we moved out into a reception area, where there happened to be a grand piano. Jordan Knight sat down behind it and led us all through a few holiday songs and a couple acoustic New Kids songs. It was touching and warm and a lovely way to end the evening...Except ours was just beginning!

We were playing the one and only—"the most famous arena in the world", Madison Square Garden. And thank God all those Dads got off the couch, because they brought 16,000 of the cutest, loudest, cryingest girls ever. We had so much to be thankful for that year and still do. This year I look forward to a crowd of about 12 with lots of food, extra sweet potato pie, and some good conversation. I wish you all the same. Bon appetit! (which in America means eat 'til ya burst).

Joey McIntyre [New Kids on the Block] is giving ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino a series of updates on his forthcoming solo record in this exclusive blog series, here we go again with part 2Joey McIntyre Exclusive Blog #2

Joey McIntyre tells ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino about his surprise guest spot on Donnie Wahlberg's radio show in Canada, the world premiere of "Here We Go Again" and just trying to keep the lid on in the second installment of this exclusive blog series….

How much longer does this thing have to bubble before it bursts?

That's the key to my life—trying to keep the lid on.

That balance, that simmer...I'm about to blow. But, we're going to let it ooze out slowly like lava, and then bang!!! When is the actual explosion? I don't know...as much as I plan, I still can't see the future, but I'm looking forward to it regardless! Last Friday, my good friend Donnie asked me to join him up in Toronto for his show. He's been throwing one big party after another lately—going to different cities. This time, it was T-Dot!

Donnie was guest DJ-ing at CHUM FM, and he thought it would be cool to premiere my new song "Here We Go Again" to the world, and I was flattered.

There's absolutely nothing like hearing your song on the radio! The mix sounds hot as hell, and it just came blasting through the speakers. The feeling of making something and throwing it down the airwaves is just so special. I'm really excited about doing more in Canada—the fans up there have been so good to me!

Later on that night, I was actually a surprise guest on Donnie's show!

We tried to sell it like I was back in L.A. when I called in to the radio station, but I was actually in the other room. We wanted the theatrics of me walking on stage during the show that night. I think most people were genuinely surprised, but in these days of Twitter, everything gets out...I had to hide out all day, and if I saw some folks, I had to swear them to secrecy.

I think the people that weren't in Toronto kind of knew what was up. I got lots of Tweets telling me to "Stop lying!" Hahaha... It was still fun to try though! All and all it was a whirlwind 24-hour trip for me that was so worth it!

For now you can hear my new single streaming on my NEW web site http://joeymcintyre.com. And you can get your own copy of "Here We Go Again" at iTunes next week! It's all happening!

Joey McIntyre [New Kids on the Block] is giving ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino a series of updates on his forthcoming solo record in this exclusive blog series, welcome to installment #1

Joey McIntyre Exclusive Blog #1Joey McIntyre gives ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino the scoop on his brand new video for "Here We Go Again" in the first of this exclusive blog series….

As soon as I decided on the video concept for "Here We Go Again," I wanted to get the fans involved. I knew we were going to need lots of "background specialists" to make the location seem legit. But while we were in pre-production, I kind of put the task of getting fans to come down on the backburner. It ended up that I told the fans only four days before I would need them.

We did it on Twitter—I said the first 30 people to e-mail an address would be invited down to the video. In five minutes, I got over 2000 responses and had to shut it down. Once again a sudden shock of love hit me and I was knocked over! We counted down the winners tweet by tweet. It was fun! I threw in a couple of bonus winners. And then those 32 people began the frantic quest of getting to L.A. in three days. We had people from all over! Canada—east and west, South Carolina, D.C., NYC, and London!!!

So now we had confirmation that everyone save a couple were coming and I thought...Ok, now what? Because honestly, I wasn't sure we should have 30 girls in the scenes. I kept belaboring that point to our producer John Davis, that this is a Fight Club and yes, I wanted girls representing. However, I didn't want it to look like Meet-and-Greet at a New Kids concert. I really felt like I was going to have to make their trip worthwhile in other ways—hanging out, saying hi, taking pix—because I felt some weren't gonna be on camera.

But as I came to the set for the first shot, the producer told me that it was all set. I walked on and checked it out. "Is this everyone?" I asked. "Yup." Wow...it looked good. Plenty of dudes and all the fans came dressed properly for the scene—kudos. It looked really good. So I went from thinking I would have to placate the fans as they sat on folding chairs all day to feeling bad that they were standing on their feet all day. They worked hard! They were screaming, hollering, stomping their feet and shaking their fists. They gave 110% the whole time. That is all I really care about. And I wasn't gonna slow down either, but if I did, I would just have to look at them hangin' tough right there with me.

The theme of the video is based on the movie Fight Club. The impetus for it inspiring the video has a few origins. While I was making this album, I just felt very "thrown forward." I didn't think the music would be this strong and in your face. I had a lot to say and I wanted to blurt it out in a sense. I felt like I had to physically match the raw emotion and feeling of the music. I've always been in pretty good shape, but I wanted to get in the best shape of my life for this music. So I had that in the back of my mind. And then as an independent artist trying to use my time and money wisely, I had to think simple, when deciding on a concept. One location. Simple idea. My music producer Brent Paschke is a huge Fight Club fan, so much so that his screensaver is a tiny picture in the middle of the screen of Meat Loaf as "Bob." I was sitting in the studio when I saw that, and it hit me. If I want a goal to get into the best shape of my life, here it was. It's a cool cult movie, and the song matches its intensity, so I went for it.

All of this couldn't have happened without the director John Brenkus, who is a friend. John is an Emmy winning TV producer/director, and he loved the song. So he opened up his entire studio- space and staff! Cinematographer Tim Gordon and the crew captured/created an authentic, gritty and dark but glowing vibe. We prepped for a few weeks and then shot it in two days. First day was performance-me singing the song in two different set ups. That was fun. We felt we got great stuff that day and we were right. The stylist Julie Peterson and I spent a good amount of time on the right look for both spot and I think we nailed it—thank God, cuz its very easy to go the another way and it can effect the whole vibe and look.

The second day was the Fight Club—where I get my ass kicked but battle back to get a few good shots in. This was the day I had been training and dieting for four weeks- not an eternity but it felt that way. Like I said, I was in the best shape of MY life. The there were other bodies on the set that looked a lot better than mine, but I was feeling good, and it was a nice sense of accomplishment to be there in that "ring" and feel like rockin' the world.

This song is one big metaphor for "staying in the game," for "showin' up" and "keepin' punchin.'" I love making music, but the business can be a grind and often I hear those voices saying—"do you really want to do this again?...You could be chilling right now. Vacationing around the world as you wait for the New Kids to get back together. Hang in L.A., see what comes across the desk."

But then this music pulls me in, the crowd pulls me in, my deeper inner voice saying, "you got something to say buddy, so shut up and say it!" if that makes any sense. "Shut up and say it" :)

And that voice wins out. There'll always be Paris, but I'm still in the ring and the fight is on the line. And I'm ready to give it and I'm ready to take it. Here we go again!! :)